Democracy Versus Impositocracy

Macbeth, one of the literary works of William Shakespeare, in the tragic tale of Macbeth, was a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. This tragedy could in fact be adequately summarized using two theories. One theory could suggest that the tragic hero, Macbeth, was led down an inescapable road of doom by an outside force, fate in the form of the three witches. The second theory could suggest that there was no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore, made him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall.
It must be remembered that Macbeth was a mere literary work of art and as a piece of art, was open to many different interpretations; none of them right, and none of them wrong. But the text of the play seemed to imply that Macbeth was indeed, responsible for his own actions, which were provoked by unwillingness to listen to his own conscience, the weird sisters, and his ambition.
First, Macbeth ignored the voice of his own psyche. He knew what he was doing was wrong even before he murdered Duncan, but he allowed Lady Macbeth and greed to cloud his judgement. In referring to the idea of the murder of Duncan, Macbeth, first stated, “We will proceed no further in this business”. Yet, after speaking with Lady Macbeth, he recanted and proclaimed, “I am settled and bent up each corporal agent to this terrible feat”.
There is nothing supernatural to be found in a man being swayed by the woman he loves; as a matter of fact, this action could be perceived as quite the opposite.
Second, the witches had to be dispelled as a source of Macbeth’s misfortune before the latter theory could be considered. It was admittedly strange that the witches first addressed Macbeth with “All hail Macbeth! Hail to Thee, Thane of Cawdor!” a title which even Macbeth was unaware he had been awarded. Even stranger was the third witch calling to Macbeth, “All hail Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter”.
However, as clearly stated by some school of thought “No connection of these announcements with any actions of his was even hinted by the witches”.
The whole scenario boils down to the capacity for the external factor to influence one’s destiny and amplify one’s ambition. But be it as it may, Macbeth would probably not have ended up the way he did if he had listened to and obeyed the dictate of his conscience. Or, it can be reasoned that the tragic end of Macbeth was a deliberate literary design by Sir William Shakespeare to earn him credit on Elizabethan stage.
Again, Macbeth’s tragic fall was unarguably prompted by his vaulting ambition clearly
fuelled by the combined powers of the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth.
Another school of thought is of the opinion that the witches’ pronouncement of Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor was an imposition on the Cawdorians and a threat to their sovereignty as a nation. Again, the witches’ prophetic project had also relegated the people’s franchise to choose their own king, the king whose heroism was not only popular on the war fields, but also with the leadership qualities that would put smile on the faces of many. This is clearly branded impositocracy.
In an unwarped view of an ideal world, impositocracy could be defined as the type of government where the most powerful in the society use their resources to forcefully place someone in an authority against the wish of the masses, in order to use it as a conduit for siphoning or looting the treasury for their selfish interests and personal aggrandisements. Or simply, it is government by the incumbent, of the incumbent and for the incumbent. This version of government also implies that whoever that is imposed should agree or accept to shield the authors of his imposition from any category of indictment resulting from any level of financial misappropriation incured in the immediate past regime or so.
In recent times, This type of government (impositocracy) has assumed unprecedented proportion in Nigeria, in such a way that competence and professionalism are totally relegated in leadership.
Worried by the untoward scenario, impositocracy scholars have come to unite in the belief that this governmental concept is enhanced only in countries with high corruption index because the imposition merchants would always want to escape the eyes of the law by anointing someone who would shield them through their ccontroversial, or rather, illegal regime.
If the three witches in Macbeth, Shakespeare’s literary work of art, had sought the consent of the people of Cawdor before proclaiming Macbeth their king, their collective prayers and wishes would probably have brought a way out, for Macbeth, to achieve his aim very naturally.
In Nigeria, for example, the doctrine of imposition has been integrated in governance and has been adopted to advance the cause of our nascent democracy. Since the country returned to democracy in 1999, at the presidency, there is no president in Nigeria that has ever been democratically elected by the people, for the people and of the people. At the National Assembly, Governorship, even at the local government level, the whole business has been that of imposition by a few power brokers who constitute themselves as Cabals, a refined and latest version of cult group.
Nigerian cabals, unlike the Shakespearan witches, are inordinately bent to commit all levels of atrocities to ensure that somebody who would shield them and act according to their instructions, is imposed on the people, but the witches only announced their prophecies and left Macbeth to his conscience for eventual determination and actions.
In Nigeria, what actually are the impositors want to gain? What are they afraid of that they don’t allow the people to really elect who would lead them through the murky waters of Nigerian democracy.
Unlike the Shakespearan witches who simply prophecised and left Macbeth to implement by his conscience, Nigerian imposition architects are bent, at all cost, including using the state resources, to ensure that their choice is enthroned, without limitations thereby relegating democracy.[color=#000099][/color]